Toughing it out
by trorychic
Summary: What happens when Rory and Tristan hit a huge bump in the road of life?


I own none of these characters-blahblahblah  
  
Please email me with feedback!  
  
BballAngel0421@hotmail.com mailto:BballAngel0421@hotmail.com  
  
Pairing: R/T  
  
Toughing it Out  
  
By: Abby  
  
Chapter 1  
  
`Why is this happening?' Tristan DuGrey thought as he paced around the waiting room at Hartford Community Hospital.  
  
Only hours earlier Tristan and Rory, now married, were at the Star's Hollow Fourth of July parade with their daughter, Melissa, 4, their son, Nick, 2, and Rory's mother, Lorelai, her step-father, Luke, and their daughter, Hallie, 2. Now Tristan and Lorelai were waiting for news from the doctors. Rory hadn't been feeling well over the past few days, and today the bomb dropped. After the delicious meal prepared by Sookie, they were settling in to watch the fireworks, and Rory passed out. Tristan couldn't revive her, so Lorelai called an ambulance. Luke took Melissa, Nick, and Hallie back to the Gilmore house in Star's Hollow and Lorelai and Tristan went to the hospital with Rory. They still hadn't heard from the doctor.  
  
"Mr. DuGrey! Mr. DuGrey!" The doctor had been calling Tristans name for a while and he wasn't responding.  
  
"Tristan?" Lorelai said, tapping him gently. He snapped his head up. He had been sitting in one of the hard plastic chairs in the waiting room, and he had totally spaced out.  
  
"Mrs. Danes, Mr. DuGrey, I have something to tell both you and Rory. If you will follow me, You can be with Rory when I tell her." Dr. Phillips said, leading the way down the hall. Lorelai, looking faint, latched on to Tristan's arm. He supported her as they followed the doctor.  
  
"Mom! Tristan!" Rory cried, from her bed.  
  
`She looks awful' Tristan thought.  
  
"Hey Baby!" He said, using his casual player attitude that Rory remembered from high school.  
  
Lorelai and Tristan each held her hand as the doctor started talking.  
  
"Mrs. DuGrey, Mr. DuGrey, Mrs. Danes, this information is likely to shock you. This is the part of the job that I hate the most." he said.  
  
"What is it, Dr. Phillips?" Rory said, clutching Tristan's hand.  
  
"Mrs. DuGrey.......you have leukemia."  
  
Chapter 2  
  
"What!" Lorelai, Rory, and Tristan all cried at the same time.  
  
"Rory, you have leukemia. I know this is rough, but we want to start treatment a.s.a.p. We seem to have caught this early in the stages. I have already consulted with my colleagues, and we think you have a very good chance of a full recovery."  
  
"Dr. Phillips, what kinds of treatment would Rory need." Tristan said, wrapping his arms around his wife.  
  
"We would start with chemotherapy. We believe that since we are treating it at this time, we won't have to go to anything extreme." Dr. Phillips replied.  
  
"What do you mean, extreme?" Lorelai asked.  
  
"Well, when we have no other options, after doing everything we can to help Rory, we would have to do a bone marrow transplant. But let's not talk about that now. Hopefully we won't have to do that." Dr. Phillips said. "Now, Mr-"  
  
"Dr. Phillips, I have the feeling we will be seeing a lot of each other, so please call me Tristan and-" Tristan glanced at Lorelai, who nodded. "And call her Lorelai."  
  
"Ok. Tristan and Lorelai, I suggest you head home and get some rest. We can start the chemo tomorrow." Dr. Phillips said.  
  
"Ok doctor. Can we say good bye to Rory." Lorelai said.  
  
"Sure, Lorelai. And please, call me Will." Doctor Phillips said as he walked out.  
  
"Bye, babe! I love you sweetie and I will see you tomorrow. Luke and Hallie will come see you too....Oh God! Luke! I forgot to call. Alright, babe. See you tomorrow!" Lorelai said as she hugged Rory and ran out, pulling out her cell phone.  
  
"Oh My God, Tristan! How am I supposed to deal with this?" Rory said, sobbing into Tristan's shirt.  
  
"Don't worry, Baby, it'll all be fine. I promise, you'll pull through this." He said, hugging his wife and holding back his tears.  
  
"I don't think I could do this without you Tristan. You and Mom and the kids are my everything. I love you, Tristan." Rory said.  
  
He gave her one last kiss before walking out into the hall.  
  
He took one look at Lorelai, talking into her cell phone, and he broke down. He manage to hold the tears in until he got down stairs into the parking lot. He looked all over for Rory's convertible or his Jeep or Lorelai's van. Then he remembered that they had come in the ambulance. With that he broke down completely and sat down n the curb. He cried and cried until he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He looked up to see his little girl Melissa standing there. He could see Lorelai and Luke by the door with Hallie and Nick.  
  
"Daddy, what's wrong? Where's Mommy?" Melissa said, crawling into Tristan's lap.  
  
"Miss, Mommy's sick. She has something called cancer, and she has to stay in the hospital. She is going to take medicine and get better. I am sad, so I was crying." He said, hugging Melissa.  
  
"But Mommy is gonna get better?" She said, looking up at Tristan with her big blue eyes.  
  
"I hope, Missy, I hope." He said, picking up his daughter and walking to the car.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
"Mommy, Mommy!" Melissa and Nick ran into the hospital room the next morning. Luke, Lorelai, and Hallie had stayed in the Gilmore mansion in Hartford the night before. Lorelai had inherited the mansion from her parents when they died, and she gave it to Rory. Tristan and Rory had lived their since hey were married 7 years before. It had been late when they left the hospital and Lorelai hadn't wanted to leave Tristan alone. She wasn't sure if he was able to take care of the kids. She also wanted to be nearby if anything happened to Rory or Tristan and the kids.  
  
"Hey babies!" Rory said, leaning down and kissing her kids.  
  
"Ewww, Mommy, don't kiss me!" Nick said, wiping Rory's kiss off. She laughed as he climbed up onto the bed.  
  
"Hey Babe!" Luke said as he walked over and hugged his step-daughter.  
  
"Hey Luke!" She said, clutching him.  
  
"Hey, what about me?" Lorelai said, hugging Rory.  
  
"Hi Worwy!" Hallie said, giving Rory raspberries.  
  
"Hiya Squirt! Whats up?" Rory said, kissing her little sister.  
  
"Hey Rory!" Tristan said, hugging and kissing his wife.  
  
"Hey Tris!" She said, happy to see her family.  
  
"Well, hello everyone." Dr. Phillips voice boomed from the door.  
  
"Hello, Doc." Lorelai said.  
  
"I haven't met most of these people." He said, looking around.  
  
"Oh, that is my step dad Luke, my little sister Hallie, and my kids, Melissa and Nick." Rory said.  
  
"Well, Rory, we are going to start your treatment now." Dr. Phillips said, questioning her with his eyes.  
  
"Luke, Mom, why don't you take Melissa, Nick, and Hallie to get ice cream and come back in a few hours. I know that Nick is a huge monkey fan, and Melissa is a polar bear fan, so maybe you could head to the zoo for a little while." Rory said to her mom.  
  
"Alright, babe! Love Ya! Say bye to Mommy, guys." Lorelai said, first hugging her daughter and then pushing her grandchildren forward.  
  
"Bye Mommy!" Nick and Melissa said at the same time, crawling onto the bed and kissing Rory.  
  
"Bye Nicky, Bye Miss. I love you!" Rory said, waving to her kids as they walked out with Lorelai.  
  
"Alright Rory. Are you ready?" Dr. Phillips said.  
  
Rory glanced at Tristan and clutched his hand, nodding.  
  
3 hours later  
  
"Oh My God, Tristan! I can't do this!" Rory cried, just before throwing up into the trash can.  
  
"Babe, you can. You know you can, Rory. Your strong, and beautiful, and a great mom, and you know that you can pull through and beat this cancer." Tristan said, holding her hand and brushing back her hair.  
  
After 20 more minutes, she stopped throwing up.  
  
"Tristan, how am I going to do this everyday?" She cried.  
  
"Rory, listen to me. If I could take your place, I would, but I can't. You are going to beat this Ror, because you have the will to live. You're beat this, and I will help you all along the way." Tristan said, wrapping his arms around her.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
"Well, Rory, pack your bags. We're kicking you out." Dr. Phillips said, walking into Rory's room, 3 months later.  
  
Rory's eyes widened, and she squealed, hugging Tristan, who was next to her bed.  
  
"What's all the excitement about?" Lorelai said as she and Luke walked in with Hallie. The kids were back in school.  
  
"Mom.....I'm going home!" Rory cried.  
  
Lorelai's mouth dropped open and she ran to her daughter and hugged her. Luke came up behind Lorelai and hugged Rory, too.  
  
2 days later, Rory left the hospital and headed for home. Se was feeling better than she had in a few months.  
  
As they pulled up in front of their house in Hartford, Rory felt a serge of excitement run through her. She had missed being home.  
  
Tristan glanced over at his wife and saw the excitement she felt written all over her face. He was so happy she was better. He new the doctor had said that she wasn't cured until she had been cancer free for 5 years, but he was so happy that she was home and in remission, he tried to forget that.  
  
The minute she walked into the house, she stopped.  
  
"Tristan! This place is a mess." Rory cried.  
  
He hadn't been keeping up on the house work. He was secretly hoping that Rory would come home and clean it all up.  
  
`And she is. She's home and everything is going to go back to normal.' he thought. Sure, she had to go back for her checkups, but she would be ok.  
  
"Then don't go into the kitchen." He replied, grinning impishly.  
  
She just looked at him in mock anger and headed into the kitchen, rolling up her sleeves as she went.  
  
`This is how it is supposed to be!' He thought, following his wife.  
  
7 years later  
  
"Welcome to the 2nd annual Survivors Day, a day dedicated to Survivors of any kind." The man at the podium continued talking as Rory thought about the last 7 years. It had been 7 years ago when she was diagnosed with cancer. She had been in remission for about a year when she had a relapse. She then went into remission again and had been in ever since. Now, she was a cancer survivor. She was in Washington D.C., where the event was held. Tristan, Melissa, Nicky, Lorelai, Luke, Hallie, and Ashley, Lorelai's new baby. Rory was also pregnant. For some, chemo made you sterile, but Rory was lucky. She would have to go into the hospital a month before the due date, so that the doctors could monitor her health. She had a much better chance of good health for her and her baby by doing this.  
  
"Hello! Are you Rory Gilmore?" Rory whirled around and found herself face to face with Paris Geller.  
  
"Paris!"  
  
"Rory! Tristan?!?"  
  
"Hey Paris!" Tristan said, walking up behind Rory. Soon, her whole family had joined them.  
  
"Wow! Who are all these people with you? Oh, Hi Lorelai!" Paris said, as a man about their age and 2 little girls walked up behind her.  
  
"This is my step-dad, Luke, and my little sisters, Hallie and Ashley. These little ragamuffins are my kids, Melissa and Nick." Rory said. "And one on the way. Who is this?" she said, looking at the girls peeking around Paris's legs.  
  
"These are my girls, Paige and Sidney, and my husband, Mark." Paris said. "Why are you here?"  
  
"I was just wondering the same thing!" Rory said.  
  
"Oh, we're here with Mark's dad. He was a Vietnam vet." Paris said.  
  
"Jeeze, Paris, you'll never guess what I survived." Rory said.  
  
"What?" Paris said.  
  
"Leukemia." She said.  
  
"Oh My God, Rory! Are you ok now?" She cried.  
  
"Yeah. I have been in remission for 5 years." Rory said.  
  
"Paris....we gotta get going." Mark said, picking up Paige.  
  
"Oh, ok. Rory, give me your phone number. Are you guys still in Connecticut?" Paris asked.  
  
"Yeah. We are living in my grandparents house in Hartford. Tris, do you have a pen?" Rory jotted down the number on Paris's hand and said good-bye.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Rory never had another relapse. Paris and Mark moved back to Connecticut, to Star's Hollow to be exact (they lived in Florida). Paige and Melissa became best friends and attended Chilton when they were old enough. Nick and Sid also went to Chilton. Paris and Rory picked up their friendship where they left off. Oh, and Rory delivered a healthy baby girl, who she named Madison (Maddie). Tristan and Mark became good friends. Rory and Tristan moved back to Star's Hollow, right near Lorelai, Luke, Hallie and Ashley, and right next door to Paris, Mark, Sid, Paige, and their new baby, Matt. Matt and Maddie went to Chilton also (and they all had Mr. Medina-ewwwwww!). Rory, Tristan, Melissa, Nick, Maddie, Paris, Mark, Paige, Sid, Matt, Lorelai, Luke, Hallie, and Ashley all lived happily ever after in Stars Hollow. 


End file.
